Yes, the CSU volleyball team has had plenty of pressure the past month, needing to win every match to secure a fourth consecutive conference championship and a secure spot in the NCAA Tournament.

The Rams did just that and today will face Purdue in Tallahassee, Fla., in the first round of the tournament. And after playing with so much pressure, CSU is ready to let loose.

“We’re going to go all out and see how far we can get,” said Cranston, a senior for the Rams who this week was named the Mountain West Conference player of the year. “It’s not a pressure thing anymore.”

CSU is making its 18th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the past 16 under coach Tom Hilbert.

During that time, the Rams are 17-15 in the tournament and have only been knocked out in the first round three times. The last time was 2006 when they lost to Washington at the University of Colorado.

Tournament matches are different than any during the regular season. Hilbert knows that. It’s something he preached to his team this week in preparation for the Boilermakers.

“In the tournament, you have to play aggressively and let yourself go,” he said. “You have to let go of the fact that you’re afraid to make a mistake and just go for it. When we’ve won big matches in the tournament, that’s what we’ve done.”

CSU has made the tournament 24 times in the program’s history and every season since 1995. They’ve never been farther than the round of 16, reaching that in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2009.

Hilbert is proud of what the program has accomplished in the tournament, although he admitted there are more disappointments than triumphs. He pointed out the losses to Penn State in 2000 and Minnesota in 2009 as matches he felt his teams should have won.

Had they been able to do that, the Rams would have made the Elite Eight of the tournament. That still is a big goal for Hilbert and CSU’s program.

“I want to get there and eventually the Final Four,” he said. “It’s hard in this day and age with the level of athletes playing throughout the Big Ten and Pac-12. Every player on the court looks like our top athlete.

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“We have to have a monumental effort to win these matches. They play teams as good as us week in and week out. Can we win these matches? Sure we can, but we have to play at our absolute best.”

The Rams face a Purdue team that went 21-10 during the regular season and finished fifth in the Big Ten. CSU is 1-1 all-time against Purdue, the last match coming in 2004. The Boilermakers at that time came to Fort Collins for the first round of the NCAA Tournament and beat the Rams on their home court.

Purdue, ranked No. 22, is led by Ariel Turner, a senior outside hitter from Highlands Ranch who played at Mountain Vista High School. She was named last week the AVCA national player of the week after delivering 42 kills in wins over Wisconsin and Indiana.

CSU, however, knows the Boilermakers are more than Turner. They’ve prepared all week for what will be one of their toughest matches of the season. But this time they’ll take with them a different attitude.

“You have nothing to lose,” CSU senior Megan Plourde said. “We’re the underdogs so there’s not that pressure on you. You can go in and play with everything you have.”